WVU Poised for Season Start

[Bearhugger]

There has been talk of excitement in the off season of new wrestlers coming into WVU's squad, wrestlers coming off of redshirts, etc.

Wrestle off are done.

Here is the lineup based on wrestle offs:

125: Schafer until Cardinale is back in action.

133: ???? The word on the street is two 133s didn't make weight for wrestle offs.

141: Titus brings a fresh face to the starting 10. As I recall, Titus racked up a lot of wins last season is open tournaments.

149: Boyd hangs on to the starting spot.

157: Dowling defeats Hornfeck 5 to 3. As I recall, this was how wrestle offs finished up last season. Regardless, WVU maintains the tag team of Dowling and Hornfeck at 157.

165: HALL!!! Thank God for Peyton Hall.

174: Joll hangs on to the starting spot.

184: Carman hangs on to the starting spot.

197: Moomau completed college wrestling. Somebody new had to take over. Cooley is the man.

285: Wolfgram hangs on to the starting spot.

Seven weight classes, or 70%, will house the same wrestlers as last season. It could be 80% once 133 is determined.

Has WVU's Magnificent Seven improved greatly utilizing WVU's state of the art facilities?

Has the competition graduated out enough wrestlers to help us out?

Using the information above, what are your thoughts and predictions for how this season will finish up?

[Jon Perkins]

There will be a new face in the line-up at 133 and 141 which should give the team a bump in productivity. At 149 and 157, Hillegas and Dowling are clearly the better wrestlers, but their health will be a deciding factor. If these two guys can get old injuries healed up and get back to 100%, or close to that, and stay healthy they will give the line-up another boost. Looks like for now Joll will be the guy at 174, unless Conely can show some improvement in the first half of the season. At wrestle-off's Joll did not look significantly better than Conley, but he did look more experienced. At 197, Cooley will be an improvement from last year. At this point, it is much too early for predictions because a lot of these guys haven't wrestled much or at all. The first month of the season is going to be pretty dang competitive for this team and everyone will know where they stand after the Mizzou dual in Dec.

Even though the line-up is getting deeper with talent, it is still at a point where health and injuries have a great impact on productivity. The season is just getting started so lets sit back and see what happens.

[armyscot0873]

Don't want to jump the gun but this is a nice way to start the season. Welcome to the rankings Sam Hillegas and Austin Cooley!

The Mountaineers now have six wrestlers ranked by FloWrestling.

#9 Killian Cardinale
#20 Sam Hillegas
#7 Peyton Hall
#16 Anthony Carman
HM Austin Cooley
#17 Michael Wolfgram

Let’s go! #HailWV

[Bearhugger]

Don't want to jump the gun but this is a nice way to start the season. Welcome to the rankings Sam Hillegas and Austin Cooley!

The Mountaineers now have six wrestlers ranked by FloWrestling.

#9 Killian Cardinale
#20 Sam Hillegas
#7 Peyton Hall
#16 Anthony Carman
HM Austin Cooley
#17 Michael Wolfgram

Let’s go! #HailWV

I guess WVU needs to have another wrestle off real quick.

Boyd beats Hillegas in the wrestle off. Hillegas does well in the SE Open and Boyd doesn't place. Hillegas is now nationally ranked.

Joll defeats Cooley in the wrestle off. Joll wrestles in the SE Open "Open" Division, doesn't place and gets hurt. Cooley wins the Freshman/Sophomore Division. Cooley is now a Flo National HM.

I guess it will all get sorted out.

[Bearhugger]

Don't want to jump the gun but this is a nice way to start the season. Welcome to the rankings Sam Hillegas and Austin Cooley!

The Mountaineers now have six wrestlers ranked by FloWrestling.

#9 Killian Cardinale
#20 Sam Hillegas
#7 Peyton Hall
#16 Anthony Carman
HM Austin Cooley
#17 Michael Wolfgram

Let’s go! #HailWV

I guess WVU needs to have another wrestle off real quick.

Boyd beats Hillegas in the wrestle off. Hillegas does well in the SE Open and Boyd doesn't place. Hillegas is now nationally ranked.

Joll defeats Cooley in the wrestle off. Joll wrestles in the SE Open "Open" Division, doesn't place and gets hurt. Cooley wins the Freshman/Sophomore Division. Cooley is now a Flo National HM.

I guess it will all get sorted out.

This is why the JV should get to wrestle in the high school regional tournaments. LOLOLOLOL

[JohnK73]

What are you talking about?? Cooley is 197 and Joll is 174?!

[Jon Perkins]

I think Bearhugger got Conley confused with Cooley, not a big deal. Brody Conley is at 174 and Austin Cooley is at 197. Hillegas and Cooley both ended up in the rankings because they each beat a ranked guy. Hillegas beat a Top 20 ranked guy and Cooley beat a Top 30 ranked guy. Both are good wins and deserve to be recognized. I would assume that Scott Joll is out of the line-up this week and Brody Conley will get his chance to enter the Open Tournament and have the opportunity to wrestle a few ranked guys as well. This weekend should be another good test for the team. Although there is not a lot of teams going to be at the tournament, there is between 2 and 4 ranked guys in each weight class. Let's hope that Sam Hillegas, Austin Cooley, and Brady Conley can keep the ball rolling and keep climbing higher in the rankings. Even though the rankings don't mean much it is fun to watch. Can we be expecting an NCAA version of "Bear Tracks"?

Just a side note: everyone has been talking FLo's rankings and while they are ok to look at, I don't think they are the best and most accurate. Personally, I like Intermat's rankings the best and Wrestlestat also has good rankings and is fun web site to browse around.

[Geoswaff]

If Titus had not been injured, I am thinking that he might also have appeared in the rankings. Also I believe Rhoades beat Titus last year when both were 133 so who knows where Rhoads will fall. Dowling seems to finally be healthy so there is another kid who has a shot to make some noise and maybe crack the rankings. Starting to really like how this ream is shaping up.

[Jon Perkins]

If Titus had not been injured, I am thinking that he might also have appeared in the rankings. Also I believe Rhoades beat Titus last year when both were 133 so who knows where Rhoads will fall. Dowling seems to finally be healthy so there is another kid who has a shot to make some noise and maybe crack the rankings. Starting to really like how this ream is shaping up.

You are correct about Rhoads beating Titus last year, it was at 141 lbs. late in the year. And yes, I expect all of those guys to be in the rankings somewhere if they can all get healed up from injuries.

[Geoswaff]

The Conley/Joll wrestle off was really close. Conley was in deep on several shots and could not finish. At the end of the open period they will have to decide on his redshirt, I really think he may be better than Joll by then.

[Pottstd]

I think you have to be pleased with WVU and what you have seen so far. There are still questions, but whoever gets the start there are some young guys showing real promise right out of the gate. Titus, Conley, etc. Additionally, there seem to be some new additions to the team that have made improvement and look to be competitive immediately in Cooley and Hillegas. On top of that, it would seem that, based on performance at the Southeast Open, some more seasoned members of the team are finally hitting their developmental stride as both Carman and Wolfgram in particular did well, beat some solid guys, and looked competitive.

When is the last time WVU has looked to have 6-7 ranked guys, legitimately rankable guys, and would have 3-4 within realistic striking distance of an AA honor? Not perfect by any means but if you are looking for growth this appears to be it.

[Geoswaff]

I'm not ready to call it solid growth yet, but i am definitely optimistic. I think after we get past a couple of the tougher duals, I feel like we will know better what we have.